Lincoln Sentinel-Republican, 29 January 1953
In the early years of the present century, many owners of farms nd ranches in Kansas continued the custom of naming their property, a custom that people had brought with them from their European homes. Lincoln county residents continued the practice.
However, quarrels soon arose because sometimes one�s neighbor wanted the same name for his farm that some one else already had chosen. To the credit of Lincoln county residents, no quarrel of any consequence is recorded in the county. But the same cannot be said of other counties and of other persons. And so it came about that in March 1911, the state legislature passed the following law:
Any farm owner of the state may, upon the payment of one dollar to the clerk of the county in which said farm is located, have the name of his farm duly recorded in a register which the county clerk shall keep for said purpose, and shall be furnished a certificate, issued under seal, and setting forth the name and location of the farm and the name of the owner; provided, that when any name shall have been recorded as the name of any other farm, such name shall not be recorded as the name of any other farm in the county, except for prefixing or adding or designating words thereto.
A study of an atlas of Lincoln county, issued in 1918, reveals the following names that were selected as names of farms and ranches in the county:
In Salt Creek township: W.H. West, Springdale Mule Ranch; Alec Jackson, Elkhorn Ranch; Henry Woody, Hereford Home Farm; Emmett Clark, Valley View; and C.W. Myers, Myers Stock Farm.
In Logan township: J.H. Markle, Slim Chance Farm; G. Schultz, Limestone Stock Home; William Oetting, Elder Grove Stock Farm; Joe McBride, Spring Creek Stock Farm; F.A. Lewis, Pleasant Dale Stock Farm; and A.J. Lancaster, Cedarcroft Stock Farm.
In Colorado township: A.R. Reitz, Holstein Dairy and Stock Farm; J.N. Schmidt, Twelve Mile Creek Ranch; E. Morton, Saline Valley Stock Farm; Henry Martz, Longview Stock Farm;. H.E. Skinner, Old Homestead Stock Farm; C.A. Greene, Greenacres; and John Lee, Table Rock Stock Farm.
In Madison townshp: Frank Neel, Golden Plume Farm; Frank Jilka, High Point Stock Farm; George Peeler, Elms Stock Farm; G.E. James, Rattlesnake Stock Farm; J.E. Hunter, Sunnydale Stock Farm; Charles Parsons, Battle Creek Stock Farm; G.E. Loy, Hardscrabble Stock Farm; O.M. Goulden, Orchard Farm; Joseph Markley, Northview Stock Farm; E.M. Donovan, Number 1 Feeding and Breeding Ranch; J.P. Cavendar, Cottonwood Valley Stock Farm; Lizzie Howell, The Locusts; and John Wild, Poland China Stock Farm.
In Beaver township: D.W. Patterson, Valley Farm.
In Elkhorn township: O.N. Greene, Evergreen Farm; Henry Weseloh, Elkhorn Valley Electric Farm; H.F. Eckelmann, Pleasant Dale Stock and Grain Farm; Ernest Thiemann, Saline Valley Farm; and Henry Zuroeveste, River Valley Farm.
In Franklin township: Joe Walker, Utility Thoroughbred Stock Farm; Charles Anderson, Orchard Farm; and A.M. Nimmons, Mulberry Lane.
In Battle Creek township: Edgar Pierce, Coal Creek Ranch; and W.T. Watson, Reliance Stock Farm.
No names for farms or ranches were recorded in Marion, Indiana, Valley, Orange, Grant, Vesper, Golden Belt, Hanover, Pleasant and Highland townships.